Advocacy

Advocacy and Government Affairs

Recent environmental health crises such as Zika and water in Flint, Michigan painfully demonstrate that Congress has failed to invest in the core environmental health services that keep our communities safe and healthy.

Now more than ever our government must recognize and support environmental health. The growing population requires a significant investment in leading public health agencies across the country and environmental health programs, including a well-trained and credentialed environmental health workforce.

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Action Alerts

The threat of Zika is real and growing every day. Environmental health professionals know that the best way to stop Zika is a strong investment in vector control programs and working within your communities at a profoundly local level.

Please contact your Members of Congress and Senators ASAP to request that they support $1.9 billion in emergency funding for Zika.

As Environmental Health professionals, you all know that the best way to stop Zika is a strong investment in Vector Control programs and working within your communities. The White House, after speaking with scientists from around the country, has asked for $1.9 billion investment to both combat Zika virus and provide mosquito control.

The Senate is poised to pass a compromise bill for $1.1 billion today.

However, there are Senators who want this legislation to exempt state and local entities from federal permits to spray mosquito pesticides used for combating the Zika and West Nile viruses or Dengue fever. This would weaken the Clean Water Act.

Even worse, the House bill only commits $622 million for Zika, with half coming from Ebola funds. It’s just a terrible bill all around.

Therefore, we need your help today!

Please contact your Members of Congress and Senators ASAP and tell them:

To support $1.9 billion in emergency funding for Zika without any language that would weaken the Clean Water Act.

We cannot spray our way out of the Zika problem and rolling back the Clean Water Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act is not acceptable.

As environmental health professionals, we know that environmental health is profoundly local. That’s why we need targeted investments in Environmental Health programs to prevent lead poisoning, legionella disease, and many other devastating water borne health issues.

Senator Stabenow understand’s this problem and has introduced with many of her colleagues (Inhofe, Peters, Portman, Brown, Kirk, Durbin, Burr, Reed, Boxer, Mikulski, Capito and Baldwin) a bipartisan bill that invests in CDC/HRSA/ATSDR public health programs.

Negotiations are continuing behind the scenes, but no movement yet. Keep the calls and letters going they are working! We can't do it this alone.

A very real threat to United States national security is a global pandemic. Representative Brenda Lawrence’s (D-MI) Environmental Health Workforce Legislation is an important step on the journey to ensuring that every American family is protected through capable public servants who are experts at preventing and responding to outbreaks. This legislation displays political leadership which benefits the nation.

The Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2017, is being introduced this Wednesday, April 5th. It is tied to National Public Health Week because we believe that to have a strong public health system we need a strong environmental health workforce.

The Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2017 will:

Direct the US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, to develop model standards, guidelines, and technical assistance for credentialing environmental health workers.

Direct the Comptroller General of the United States to examine and identify best practices in 6 states related to training and credentialing requirements for environmental health workers. This report will compare the best practices of 3 states that currently have credentialing requirements (Maryland, Ohio, and Washington) and 3 states that do not have such requirements (Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania).

The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) is a professional organization with members in the public and private sectors, academia and uniformed services. NEHA offers credentialing, training, education, networking, professional development, and policy involvement. Learn more about NEHA at www.neha.org and follow @nehaorg on Twitter.